Why Karachi Operation would backfire?

February 15, 2014February 15, 2014

I would start this piece today with a wish that I hope a day come that someday Pakistan see a form of government which is beyond ethnicity , fanatics or fascism . Everyday coming from a family whose forefathers decided to migrate towards Pakistan believing that Mohammed Ali Jinnah is creating a nation for only Muslims and that this nation would be a beacon for Islam . I feel that life is becoming difficult for the posterity of those. I am not a fan of Abul Kalam Azad but I would try to summarize in what he said at the time of partition of India ; that the tribal communities living in the future Pakistan would never accept to change their way of life and may never accept those who migrated from different parts of India . My ancestors believed that Mohammed Ali Jinnah who have fought with British Raj and through his brinkmanship with Mahatma Gandhi would ensure that this nation would rise above this thought and would form a nation for the Muslims of the subcontinent not for any specific tribe or ethnicity.

Where the Quaid did his best to sway all and sundry including the Baluchs under Khan of Kalaat? I would fear to say that due to the earlier demise of the great leader who could not see through the job. A Baluch Nationalist told me that in a speech in the Kalaat house of parliament after 1947. The thought was that if Muslim unison is the key that why not all territories should become part of the country inclusive of Afghanistan , Iran and even Middle east ? This they say was the main disconnect and the bane to the point that Pakistan lost its fundamental principle of being the forbearer of Islam there and then. If I am wrong than why Pashtuns still think of greater Pashtunistan and why the Durand Line is still a line and not an international border? Why Bengalis faced the heinous of war crimes against them in 1971 and before the fall of Dhaka were seen as low beings by the imposing army of the time who used rapes as a tool to punish the revolting Bengalis; though Muslim League was formed by Bengali feudals in 1906 in Dhaka ? Baluchs still call themselves as an occupied territory because for everyone in this country their tribe is more important than the base of one Muslim and one Pakistan . Punjab is seen the dominant ethnicity and some say is one reason for the discontent.

Whilst Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah would have won against British and the Congress . He could not win the hearts and minds of the tribal Pakistan . Not because he could not have but because he was taken out of the equation right after partition. The second leader who could have made that spirit strong was also taken out in 1951 i.e. Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan . Some say that it was the officer mentality who wanted to take control but I feel that it was the cohesion of tribal forces of the northern part of the country which took control.

Now the reason I am giving this short lesson on history is because of the fact that now we hear and feel the same sentiment amongst the community whose forefathers migrated from India . People are asking the question that right after partition why only Mohajirs or Urdu Speaking Migrating community are at target and have not received justice after any act of aggression against them. No one was persecuted after Liaquat Ali Khan was murdered. When this community stood shoulder to shoulder with Fatimah Jinnah against Ayub Khan. They had to pay the price where Gohar Ayub as history say unleashed terror against this community forgetting that Fatima Jinnah was the sister of the founder of the nation. Then massacres which happened in Qasba/Aligarh and Hyderabad Pakka Killa back to back. No justice was done. No one was arrested or persecuted. Then in 1992 when this community united under MQM . They had to face from 1992 till 1998 the worst state persecution after 1971 . Thousands died . Hundreds were missing. The pretext was that this community wanted to form Jinnahpur. Another accusation. But for a moment if we agree that there was a plan. Had anyone asked that why a community who would be against the same Pakistan which Quaid e Azam built would name it as Jinnahpur? Why if they were friends of our next door neighbors India would call it by a name & infact in the name of the same leader which India despise for breaking the greater India into two or three? But the hatred would not allow them to answer and comprehend these questions. Many years later that accusation turned out to be false but no one and I say no one from the government, from the judiciary , from the establishment, from the army , from the police apologized for not only killing in thousands but also accusing the posterity of those who built the nation of being traitors. Nothing was done to heal the wounds. The identity Mohajir from being a community is now becoming fast an ethnicity.

The only time I saw people of this community feeling a reprieve when Gen Pervez Musharraf ; the son of a migrant coming into power as the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan post the most dreaded operation against the community. They felt vindicated and again believed in the republic. Ironic isn’t it that after Liaquat Ali Khan who was killed in 1951 . In 1999 another Mohajir came into power. This community who was worst bruised again started to forget everything and moved forward to build Pakistan along with the General. The country’s economy grew by leaps and bounds. People tend to forget that by including them the nation got strengthened.

But today again in 2014 when we see that the same Gen Pervez Musharraf; the son of a Mohajir is being tried for being a traitor. Altaf Hussein the leader of MQM and again the son of a Mohajir is being called a traitor. Many sons of Mohajirs are being killed extra judicially and are missing without any hue and cry by the same nation which want peace with the tyrant Talibans. Maybe I would be called a traitor again being a son of a Mohajir after writing this piece. But is by doing so the nation would be better off . Don’t we understand that Mohajir or Urdu Speaking community who sacrificed the most for Jinnah’s Pakistan and are still suffering as they stand between the radical Pakistan and the Pakistan in line with the spirit of the Quaid e Azam Ali Jinnah. By including them only this nation would grow instead of disenchanting them.

By ignoring the Talibanization in Karachi . Whilst I agree that the mafia in the Karachi who do Bhatta, land grabbing or killings for money should be taken out irrespective of political or religions affiliations. But our police and rangers just make it difficult for our nation and our dear Army fighting in the North by assaulting the same group of people who are seen today on the same wave length; in unison with the fighting jawans who despise Talibans equally. Is Police trying to drive a wedge between the patriotic Mohajirs and the Republic.

The nation is already seeing nationalistic apprising like in KPK, Baluchistan and Sindh. Like Altaf Hussein said a few days ago this unequal justice meted out to the Mohajirs is creating the need of another unnecessary Nationalistic movement. The last thing this nation need at this time. Imagine if you are killed or arrested and neither the police, neither the judiciary , neither the media, neither the establishment and neither the parliament give justice for crimes committed against this community. Some people would eventually raise their heads beyond control. Now some might say the writ of the state would take care of such elements. But I would ask them at how many fronts the writ of the state would be able to fight? Don’t think that peace with Talibans would be taken positively by the international community. I can assure that there would be negative reaction eventually isolating Pakistan . I wonder what is the plan. By branding all Mohajirs as traitors as seen at various blogs and forums. I wonder how does it solve the issue of Pakistan .

I wish the operation was done rightly than the innocent policemen who got killed in the bomb blast would not have suffered and Al Qaeda/TTP and their likes could have been nipped in the bud. But again the unilateral operation against a community to create hegemony of the feudal Sindhis over Karachi since they are not capable to do so legitimately and use the assets of the federation to assert their control is only making things worse. Today , when I say this I would definitely invite ire of many . But again this is the truth and the sentiment of many on the ground. I wish I could have been wrong. I wish I would have been seen more than a son of a Mohajir. I wish that I and many like me could have had equal opportunities to get jobs in Sindh Secretariat, Police and the Army. I wish I would not have been called a traitor or Panah Guzeen by haters of Mohajirs. But I wish just one thing that the persecution that my generation have faced in the past or face today. Our posterity do not need to go through the same again. At any cost . By any means. I wish the nation accept us as equally as their sons. Abdul Qadeer Khan complained. Pervez Musharraf complained. Javed Miandad complained. Altaf Hussein complained. Rashid Latif complained. Basit Ali complained. All complained being Mohajirs. I do also complain but … Anyways hoping for the best for Pakistan ….. Pakistan Zindabad!

Comments

This is now and never situation. If those who have powers won’t respond to the complaints, It will pay the price and millions of innocent Pakistanis will suffer. What will be the advantage of organizations like IHRC after the massacre of Mohajir nation in Karachi, Pakistan. They need to take actions before it is too late.